So I have made it back from day three ! thank you so much for the emails they have really made my day, This is hard ! but i am loving every minute of it, i ran quite a lot today and i was pleased with how it went , but there were loads of dunes! thank you all for the support , i will update on thursday, love seppy ps my feet are in ribbons but sure i will keep going! ... read more

Seppy got in last night before it got dark but she needed to cook here dinner etc. so shell email soon. Thanks a million for all the emails, we had a small booklet last night. Nice that there will be some photos too. Our tent has renamed itself tent nieve. Today was dunes day . It also hit 4è degrees today and the overall distance was close to a marathon with 17kms of dunes. 9 dropped out but we are going well. Very few blisters so that is pleasing, no visit to doc trotters yet. Thanks also for the messages from the mds forum. Tomorrow is a double marathon but perhaps a bit cooler. It will be dark when we finish so no update tomorrow, just Thursday ... read more

Firstly thanks a million for the emails. They were distributed altogether last night and really cheered the whole tent up. It is so nice to know that we have the support from home in Ireland and Ams. Had a good laugh at some too. Today was 38kms but relatively flat. Just 6 people dropped out yesterday so there was a good mood around the camp. It was 40 degrees today qt checkpoint 2 and then got hotter so it was a hard day. I ran most of it and then alternated run walk particularly for the 3am climb. It was just after a cooperative set up using entry fees for this race so there was lots of local support. Seppy says she will email later. It is clear that it is the cumulative tiredness that makes ... read more

We arrived safe and sound and met up with 4other people traveling with the french. We decided to share one of the tents. 3 English and one Dane one of whom is a girl qnd all of whom are pretty international. There has been good camaraderie in the tent since. Yesterday was admin day and 20 people failed the medical but we were all fine. Despite a few sandstorms everybody was pretty excited and 802 lined up: At 6am today the tent was removed from over our heads and we had some fun with trying to make fire. It was 32kms today but 15 were over sanddunes. Weather is nice and sunny. Both Seppy and I got through it really well though I ran with James from our tent and went off a bit fast and ... read more

So we are just about ready to go - bags packed, repacked and then packed again. I am currently coming in at just under 10.5 kg for my stuff! So we start on Sunday morning at 9 am morocco time. To those of you who have already sponsored us - a big thank you, for the rest - here are the details: Malaria No More: Jon is running this on behalf of the charity Malaria No More! Netherlands (MNM!NL) ( LINK is Here - select "Particulieren" and you'll see a button called "Online Doneren" for donations). Margret van Gaalen, who used to work in the Amsterdam office, works with this charity now and easily convinced me of it worthiness. The parallels to the MdS particularly appeal to me - the location, the requirements for proper preparation, ... read more

Back in Amsterdam safe and sound at 5am this morning. No time to sleep as it was time to get packing again. First thing was to put the sleeping bag into the racing rucksack - that's when I realised this was going to need to be the mother of all packing jobs - there wasn't any room left after the sleeping bag! Nothing at all! Several hours later though and we had a better approach. The rucksacks then contained nothing but food, a single cooking pot, sunscreen and some other items, and the sleeping bag is tied on to the bottom (on the outside). Both of us have a backpack weighing in at 10.5kgs - for Jonathan, this is how it works out: Category Weight (g) Rucksack + bottles 894 Sleeping items 1,795 Compulsory items 710 ... read more

So - we are currently in KL (in the KLM Lounge once again availing of the free internet!) on our way back to Amsterdam, there we will have a 34 hour turn around then on a train bound for Paris (on Thursday) where we will stay overnight and fly to Morocco on Friday at Lunch time. Both Jon and myself are experiencing a myriad of emotions, nerves, excitement, anticipation, fear to name but a few. Phuket was a really good time for us both to get our heads in order and really think about why we are doing this, because the last thing you want happening is realising on the second day that you really don't want to be there. I want to be there- I want to participate - I want to finish! I want ... read more

Happy Easter to you all - only eggs I saw today were of the hard-boiled variety. I decided that Seppy mightn't see the funny side of it so no Easter bunny here. Nice day on the beach instead - Jonathan is a li-lo bully! We received a few details of how the logistics of the marathon des sables will work - I've copied them here (really the only interesting bit is that there is a 5 and a half hour bus trip after we land in Morrocco. At least they provide some packed lunches :-) 28 MARCH 2008 • 3 charter flights have been reserved from Paris. The time at which you must be at ORLY SUD airport will be communicated to you by post. • Handing-out of road-book. Arrival at OUARZAZATE • Immediate transfer from ... read more

Well it is 9 days before the first day of the run (8 before the admin day - admin day is where they go through your pack - weigh it to ensure that itis above the minimum weight of 7kg, check that you have the mandatory kit items (alluminium blanket, signalling mirror, anti venom pump, knife, compass, topical disinfectant) and they will provide you with a flare - to signal your desire to quit the race (mine is going in the bottom of my bag never to be used!) and salt tablets. They also check to ensure that you have the mandatory daily food of 2000 calories per day (which weighed in about 0.5 kg per day when I weighed bine before I left to come to Thailand)). So, we are nearly there, we are currently ... read more

Off to run the Marathon Des Sables (240km) in March 2008.
28 March - Travel to Morocco and into Desert
29 March - Administration day
30 March (Sunday) - Day 1
31 March - Day 2
1 April - Day 3
2&3 April - Long stage
4 April - Marathon stage
5 April - Last day and transfer to hotel
6 April - Prizegiving
7 April - Return to Paris and then to Amsterdam
... full info